


1:09:00

by fuwaesthetic



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, haikyuu_69min, half of team nekoma didn't even have their own character tag smh, i lied this is a nekoma appreciation fic, i'll have to make extra sure to give them love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-05 04:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1804924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuwaesthetic/pseuds/fuwaesthetic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a bunch of drabbles for @haikyuu_69min on twitter. doubling as a  team nekoma appreciation fic!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 6/14 - rainy day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kuroken. rainy days suck for people who like playing volleyball, probably.

i.

"We can’t practice outside today," a voice grumbles beside him. Kenma lifts his eyes from his DS long enough to catch Kuroo’s gaze pointed out the window, then shoots it back in time to step back from the boss’s charge attack.

"Mm," he replies, and Kuroo shoves their shoulders together. He’s already shot up a full ten centimeters higher since they started their second year of junior high; it’s harder for them to butt shoulders the way they used to. It’s more like the middle of Kuroo’s arm hits his shoulder instead. The thought makes him sniff and he collects the boss’s fallen heart piece.

"Be a little more bothered about it. That means we have to play inside today."

"Or we could go home." Kenma exits the dungeon; he doesn’t look at Kuroo - who doesn’t dignify his suggestion with a response - until he’s saved and turned it off. He keeps the DS in his hands though, if closed; there’s a few more games he’d like to play still… "The rain’s only going to get worse. It’s better for us and everyone else to go home while it’s still light…"

Kuroo frowns; Kenma can see it out of the corner of his eye, and he turns his face towards his best friend.

"Everyone else has gone home too," he continues, but slips his DS into his backpack and makes his way to the storage room. He sighs, feeling his arms already beginning to ache as he wraps his hands around the metal bar of the ball holder, and pulls it out onto the court. Kenma closes the storage room’s door before he turns to Kuroo and feels his lips twitch involuntarily.

Kuroo’s legs tense the second he picks up the ball; he springs up when Kenma serves it across the hardwood floor to him, and they play a game of receives and tosses while the rain pounds against the gymnasium’s roof.

ii. 

"I don’t mind… volleyball."

Tetsurou twists onto his side to look at Kenma; the other boy clicks away at buttons with a look that could only be described as ‘bored concentration’ and only sighs when he, apparently, loses his battle again. The quiet button tapping returns a few minutes later (rivaled only by the drum of the storm above), and the bored concentration turns into tight lips and pinched eyebrows.

"But I’m not in love with it like you are." Kenma sits back when he says it, back straight and hands loose on his game. Tetsurou draws himself up and crawls over, slumping against the shorter of them with a snort. Kenma’s lips tighten again - not in concentration this time, but in annoyance - but he doesn’t try to push him off. That’s good; Tetsurou slides his arms around Kenma’s middle to secure his place and snorts again. "You sound like a pig."

"And you sound like an ass." Tetsurou shifts a little, moving his legs to the side, and relaxes. "I don’t care if you don’t love it — you still play. That’s what matters."

Kenma hums - it’s still hard to tell if he’s pleased or noncommittal, since the two generally go hand-in-hand - and Tetsurou decides it must be the first because Kenma adjusts himself until his shoulder is a nice, comfortable pillow for the bottom of his chin and when he breathes, he can feel Kenma’s spine against his chest.


	2. 6/22 - swap sports

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if nekoma was a hockey team, i guess. positions:
> 
> center - kenma  
> defensemen - lev, kuroo, inuoka  
> left wing - kai, shouhei  
> right wing - tora  
> goalie - yaku, yuuki
> 
> kenma, inuoka, kuroo, kai, tora, and yaku usually make up the team. lev and inuoka switch places when lev gets better at skating. i guess.

It's cold.

That's the first thing Kenma notices every time he steps onto the ice. It's not an overwhelming chill, but it's enough to make him want to retreat to the heated locker rooms and stay there. Before he can even turn to do just that, the rest of the team claps his shoulder on their way onto the ice, and with a sigh he follows suit. They circle around the center line - his line - and Kuroo clears his throat, leaning against his stick.

"All right! News. Haiba's joining us for practice today, round of applause." Sticks clatter against the ice, and Kenma watches the half-Russian steady himself against the far wall. He gives a wave, which Kenma returns, and Kuroo sighs. "Of course,  _he's_ gonna be practicing skating. Inuoka --"

Inuoka straightens up at his name; the captain taps his stick against his skates, then uses it to point at their new member. "Haiba over there's gonna be a defenseman, same as you as me, so get him battle ready. Rest of you -- practice exactly what you've been doing the past two days."

They start to break off, and Kenma's about to follow suit -- until Kuroo's hand hooks around the back of his sweater and tugs him back. He glances over his shoulder, lips pursed, and Kuroo grins.

"You and I are going one-on-one, Kenma. You're a great center, all right? Stop being so nervous."

"The other centers are twice my size," he points out, but follows Kuroo to one of the face-off spots and sighs. Kuroo fishes into his sweater and drops a puck between them, steadying it with his stick and then leaving it be.

"It's not about size -- it's about smarts. And you," he leans in, smiling, "have the most out of all of us."

Kenma shakes his head slowly - he's just observational - and takes his position. Kuroo counts down from three, and the second he gets to the end of  _one_ Kenma snatches the puck first and drives it past the first line. It's one-on-one, so there's no one to pass it too -- so he slams as much force as he can manage into getting it into the open goal.

It misses by a foot, and he feels the ache of a long practice session settle into his bones.


	3. 6/23 - injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sticks and stones may break my bones but no ow ow fuck it they hurt i'm going home bye

Kenma comes home with bruises and scrapes so often his mom begins to think he's being bullied.

"Sort of," he mutters in response  -- at her alarmed look, he shakes his head and traces the pink and purple bandages covering his  foully-colored knees. He switches to admiring his elbow, decorated just the same - though there's not as many bruises, just the red of slow-fading smack marks. "No, it's -- Kuroo and I play volleyball. That's all. We practice receives and serves most of the time, when he isn't coaching me in tossing."

His mom squeezes her hands into her apron once with a sigh. It turns into twice as she turns, rubbing them clean, and laughs.

"At least he's trying," she almost sings, and Kenma feels his stomach turn quietly.

* * *

 

"You're getting better," Kuroo says. He sounds proud, but that's probably just because he isn't the one on the ground watching a volleyball bounce and roll five feet away. Kenma sighs and pushes himself up - he winces as dirt and grass slip beneath loosen band-aids and thinks of how he'll need to change them after practice - and shakes his head. Kuroo slings an arm around his shoulder once he's standing proper and sighs, leaning his head against his cheek. It makes it easy for Kenma to lay his head on Kuroo's shoulder -- but he doesn't, because they're not friends (are they?) and it'd be weird to do it, even if Kuroo's doing the equivalent of it in the first place.

"I missed it again," Kenma replies plaintively, though he can't bring himself to admit he's sounding as down as he thinks he might be. Volleyball is tiring; Kuroo is tiring; getting better isn't his concern, really, so there's no reason to be disappointed when he misses a receive he's had served to him exactly the same every time twenty times within the last hour. Really.

"Just by a little bit!"

Kuroo's attitude is almost infectious enough for him to give in - and he nearly does - but Kenma shakes his head gentle enough not to jostle his taller company too much and picks at the scabs dotted the back of his hands. He feels Kuroo's gaze on his hands (it's curious and concerned) and before he can stick them into the pockets of his hoodie Kuroo grabs them and starts to study them instead.

"These are proof," he says, voice uncharacteristically soft, "that you're getting better. See? Like battle scars," and Kenma feels his breath constrict in his chest as Kuroo thumbs the old scrapes and the faint stickiness of band-aids pulled off. When he pulls away from Kuroo's side, hands retreating straight to his hoodie, Kuroo grins and jogs to pick up the volleyball.

"So let's keep playing already! I'll do a softer serve this time, Kenma, promise!"

He won't, but Kenma moves to the other side of their make-shift net anyway and readies himself for the inevitable sting of disappointment that always comes from missing out.


	4. 6/30 - dessert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sweet team. really short. /cries

"Yaku-san's favorite dessert's probably strawberry shortcake," Lev helpfully supplies, tapping one of his long fingers on the menu. Kenma glances from him, to the tightening lips of their libero, then sets the plastic menu down and pushes it towards the third year.

  
"Kuroo's paying," he murmurs, "so take what you want."

  
Kuroo gives him a Look - when had they decided this? - and Kenma ignores it. He's definitely going to pay for it, whether or not; he's the captain. Captains did whatever they could for their team. Inuoka noses - no, Inuoka pushes past him to look at the menu, turning it away from Lev with a hungry grin.

  
"Giant banana split!" he howls, slamming his hand on it. Kuroo eyes the price and, apparently deeming it not too bad, nods. The rest of the orders flow in: Kai has a strawberry and banana crepe; Yaku does, in fact, choose strawberry shortcake (which promptly and "accidentally" finds itself in Lev's face); Kuroo passes, wiggling his wallet a little contemptuously; Lev eats Yaku's shortcake; Shouhei and Tora share Inuoka's banana split (because, as it turns out, it's much too big for one first year -- the second years have to help too!), and Shibayama has a triple chocolate gelato.

  
Kenma clicks away at his phone, stirring only to take offered bites from his teammates, and listens to chatter he thought he'd never like so much.


End file.
